Men's basketball: CU Buffs prepare for Southern California invasion

Colorado set to host Pac-12 foes USC, UCLA

On Nov. 25, then-No. 11 UCLA blew an 18-point lead and lost to the Mustangs from the Big West at Pauley Pavilion.

"We thought that if we could get it close, maybe we get a bounce, maybe they miss a shot, maybe we make a shot," Cal Poly coach Joe Callero told the Associated Press after the historic upset. "It's a lot more pressure on them when they are nationally ranked and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and those guys in green jerseys come trucking down here to wonderful UCLA and their history and their tradition."

Despite the early stumble, it looks like tradition isn't going to take another year off.

UCLA, which failed to make the NCAA Tournament last season and continued its trend of losing high-profile recruits (Tyler Lamb and Joshua Smith) this fall, has won seven consecutive games.

The Bruins (12-3, 2-0) ended non-conference play with a 97-94 overtime victory over No. 7 Missouri and opened up the Pac-12 schedule with wins over Cal and Stanford last week.

"We're a very young team, starting three freshmen, so we're getting more experience and definitely the defense has improved," UCLA head coach Ben Howland said on Tuesday's conference call with the media. "We were fortunate to have a long home stand with six home games, so that always helps. Now we're going on the road."

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UCLA will make the Utah-Colorado trip for the first time since the Pac-12 expanded.

The Utes (8-6, 0-2) and Buffs (10-4, 0-2) were both swept by the Arizona schools.

"They're going to be playing desperate and with a sense of urgency having lost two on the road," USC head coach Kevin O'Neill, whose Trojans visit Boulder on Thursday night, said of CU.

The timing on Saturday worked out for local sports fans with the Pac-12 Network. CU hosts UCLA at noon, and the Denver Broncos kick off their playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens at 2:30 p.m.

No Pac-12 love for Cats

After finishing up with his questions from the media, Arizona head coach Sean Miller had a pointed question for Pac-12 director of communications Dave Hirsch.

"Hey Dave, what do we have to do to get one of those awards?" Miller said.

Miller was referring to the Pac-12 player of the week awards. The No. 4 and 14-0 Wildcats -- the only ranked team from the conference -- have not had a player so honored this season.

Arizona State's Carrick Fleix is the Pac-12 player of the week for the second time. CU's Andre Roberson and Askia Booker have both won the award, so have Oregon State's Eric Moreland and Ahmad Starks.

"Usually when you're 14-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country those individual accolades follow," Miller said.

Hirsch said a panel of six-to-eight staff members at the Pac-12 offices chooses the winner each week. He suggested to Miller that perhaps an Arizona player would be the conference player of the year.

"You can't become the player of the year if you don't win one player of the week," Miller said.

Replaying the replay

At least Miller can't complain about the officiating at the end of regulation against CU.

Tad Boyle was once again asked about the reversal of Sabatino Chen's game-winning 3-pointer on Thursday in Tucson, which led to a 92-83 overtime loss to Arizona.

"It's like a sock in the gut. There's two different opinions, you're either in one camp or the other," Boyle said. "You have to take your medicine and move on sometimes in life, and that's what we're doing."

Boyle noted that CU's poor defense in the second half allowed Arizona to erase a 17-point deficit before the Chen basket was disallowed. He also said that Arizona State "outplayed" the Buffs during Sunday's 65-56 loss.

"The bottom line is we're 0-2. We could be 2-0, but we're not," Boyle said. "We've got to move on."

National numbers

Arizona remained No. 3 in the USA Today Coaches poll but slipped to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll after narrow home wins over CU and Utah.

UCLA, Oregon and Arizona State received votes this week.

Sagarin ranks the Pac-12 as the fifth-best conference so far behind the Big Ten, Mountain West, Big East and Big 12.

The first official NCAA RPI rankings came out this week with Arizona (4), CU (6), UCLA (39) and Oregon (48) in the top 50.

Utah (107), USC (154), Oregon State (172) and Washington State (193) are all outside the top 100.

Notable

Arizona State center Jordan Bachynski's nine blocks against CU were the most by a Sun Devil in a Pac-12 game in the program's 35 seasons in the conference. ... Six Pac-12 teams entered conference play with 10 or more wins, up from three teams last season. ... Arizona's long list of NBA players over the years have earned over $800 million playing at the next level and 75 percent of those players were a part of a Final Four team with the Wildcats. ... CU's Andre Roberson (12.1 rpg) leads the Pac-12 in rebounding.

Quotable

"This is an opportunity for us to gain some ground on the conference," Oregon State (0-2) head coach Craig Robinson on hosting 2-0 Arizona State and Arizona this week.

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